Donald Trump is the subject of a warning from decades’ worth of Republican officials over his ‘alarming ignorance’ of international affairs.
Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Many longtime Republican foreign policy and national security officials have issued their most vociferous repudiation of Donald Trump to date, saying the GOP presidential nominee, if elected, “would be the most reckless president in American history”.

An open letter released on Monday and signed by 50 fixtures from decades of Republican Pentagons, state departments, White Houses and treasuries rejected Trump’s “alarming ignorance” of basic international affairs, his competence at understanding US national interests and his temperament.

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“From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be president and commander-in-chief,” states the letter, which was first reported by the New York Times and includes several top aides from the George W Bush administration.

“Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country’s national security and well-being.”

The former officials, many of whom are likely candidates to staff any Republican president’s administration, added that Trump “lacks the character, values, and experience” to hold the highest office in the land. It was the latest sign of traditional Republicans, usually a fractious group, striking at Trump while the nominee reels under signs of cratering poll numbers and self-inflicted political wounds.

Many of the signatories have made their doubts known before. A March letter published at the online national security salon War on The Rocks sounded warnings on Trump’s character, policies and fitness for office. It included many who also signed the current letter, including George W Bush’s homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff; ex-Pentagon under secretary for policy and ambassador to Turkey Eric Edelman; Condoleezza Rice aide Philip Zelikow; John McCain advisers Richard Fontaine and Kori Schake; and former US ambassador to Iraq Robert Blackwill.

But the previous letter was penned in the midst of the Republican primary, when several other candidates remained competitive in the race. For dozens of high-profile intelligence officials to rebuke their own party’s nominee with the general election officially underway is yet another indication of the unprecedented nature of Trump’s candidacy.

The new letter also arrives amid heightened concerns over Trump’s posture toward Russia – the former reality TV star has lavished unusual praise on the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, while his campaign manager, Paul Manafort, has been scrutinized for holding ties to Russian politicians. Former CIA acting director Michael Morrell, who endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton this weekend, has insinuated that Putin is manipulating an unwitting Trump.

Signing the new letter are former CIA and NSA director Michael Hayden, whose antipathy to Trump has become highly public in recent months, and John Negroponte, a senior official in the Reagan, George HW Bush and Bill Clinton administrations and George W Bush’s first director of national intelligence. So has George W Bush’s White House Iraq and Afghanistan adviser, Meghan O’Sullivan, who is held in high esteem amongst congressional Republican internationalists.

The new letter also contains harsher language than the old. While the March letter compared Trump to a “racketeer”, the new one flatly says Trump “lacks the temperament to be president”. It also calls into question his fitness to wield “command of the US nuclear arsenal”.

“Unlike previous presidents who had limited experience in foreign affairs, Mr Trump has shown no interest in educating himself,” the letter states. “He continues to display an alarming ignorance of basic facts of contemporary international politics.”

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The Clinton campaign has also sought to cast a spotlight on Trump’s competence to be commander-in-chief as voters grow increasingly alarmed over national security. The Democratic national convention featured a cadre of generals, admirals and former officials from Republican administrations making the case against Trump in primetime, homing in on his erratic behavior and wayward statements on US foreign policy.

The Clinton campaign also released a video stringing together clips of both national security officials and former Republican presidential candidates, from Mitt Romney to Marco Rubio, stating that Trump was fundamentally unqualified to be president and should not have access to the nuclear codes.

Trump called the letter “politically motivated” in a statement, saying its signatories were members of a “failed Washington elite” struggling to hold on to its influence.

“The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place,” Trump said.

“These insiders – along with Hillary Clinton – are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are the ones who allowed the rise of Isis.”

Trump further committed to a foreign policy that would stand up to dictators, rebuild the military and pursue peace over war.

“Together, we will break up the rigged system in Washington, make America safe again, and we will make America great again,” he said.